Federal judges deny oil companies’ attempt to consolidate cases in coastal litigation

This week, a panel of five federal judges denied a motion filed by oil companies seeking to consolidate forty-one separate lawsuits against them for coastal land loss and other damage caused by oil and gas exploration, production, and transportation in five Louisiana Parishes, including Vermilion Parish, which is represented by Richard Broussard, partner at Broussard, David & Moroux. The defendants saw the oil companies’ motion as a delay tactic and the judges apparently agreed. “The (panel) had no trouble recognizing the most recent efforts of large oil corporations to postpone a trial through procedural maneuvering,” said Broussard. “Their effort to further stall a judgment requiring them to clean up their mess was soundly rejected.”